Probably because he’s, well, Elton Brand, I haven’t paid much attention to him. It’s like telling me, “Hey JB, Robert Parrish is on the wire, what’da think?!” Brand is getting tons of run lately with Gustavo Ayon and Pero Antic still hurt decimating the Hawks 5s (and Paul Millsap out as well), to the tune of 40+ minutes the past two games and 30+ in 4 of 5. And grandpa Elton topped off his big run with a rainbow line last night, 7/13/3/2/2 in 42 minutes. That’s like an Andrew Bogut line! Had a comment last night asking if Brand is a flash in the pan. More like flash in the bedpan! Yeah, I don’t see any sustainability here with none of the aforementioned hurt guys really out that long. But hey, maybe a one-game stream? The Hawks are going at Boston tonight who lack any sort of consistency up front as well and Brand could get ya another multi-cat gem. Here’s what else I saw last night in fantasy hoops:

James Harden – Can score sometimes. 22 in the first quarter to outscore the Kings 22-17. Put up 43 and didn’t even play in the 4th. “I’m the bearded lady, who are you, one of the freaks!?!?!?”

Terrence Jones – Another dud. Efficient dud though! 5-5 FG (1-1 FT) 11/2/1/0/1. Only played 20 minutes, but I’m throwing that out since this was such a blowout from the get-go.

Jordan Hamilton – Just like I’m throwing out Hamilton having much value. 12/5/2/1/1 with two treys I think is about the ceiling for Hamilton on the Rox.

Reggie Evans – Me reacting to his trade to the Kings: “I’m not saying Evans would play 30 minutes or anything, but could maybe average 8 boards a game while doing nothing else in the typical Evans fashion.” And look at that! In his second game with the Kings last night, 8/8/1/2/0 in 24 minutes. Jason Thompson played only 5 and Carl Landry 10. I’m not saying Evans is a 10 or 12-team add, but if you need boards in anything deeper, we know he can!

DeMarcus Cousins – It also helped Evans that the refs last night didn’t want to Boogie. “Teach me how to dougie!” Wait, those aren’t at all alike are they? I can’t help it, I don’t know anything about dancing!

Jonas Valanciunas – Told ya. 17 minutes for 2/6/0/0/1 and a TO. Remember when I said the only reason he had that big game last week was because Tyler Zeller was on him? Yeah, Spencer Hawes started and made JV look like a JV player again…

Kyle Lowry – 0-9 from downtown. The heat check is saying you’re colder than a homeless man’s taint in Saskatoon!

DeMar DeRozan – 33/4/6 with 16 Pts in the 4th. Closer! For some reason it looked like his jersey said Sedgwick on the back not DeRozan… Loving the dimes. Up to 3.8 on the year and it’s good at least one of my two Raptors sleepers worked out…

Amir Johnson – Played 36 minutes and playing back to his multi-cat ways. 9/6/4/0/2 and performing to what his 74%-owned should indicate. I was going to suggest him as a pickup, but surprised he’s owned in so many leagues. Oh, shot 1-3 from deep as well. Take that Lowry!

Anthony Bennett – Remember when he had buzz? 0-5 last night with 3 TOs in 9 god-awful minutes. Makes that homeless dude from Saskatoon’s taint seem like a Jamaican beach!

Kent Bazemore – Can’t be stopped! Even by Pau Gasol! Yikes what a mess. 23/4/3/3/0 for Baze shooting 8-19. I love how that article implies 8-19 is atrocious. Kobe Bryant had nights like that all the time! I’m not adding Baze in most 12-teamers, but past that, go for it.

Kendall Marshall – Geez, what a roller coaster. And it’s back down again after another huge dud. I’m not cutting bait quite yet and think he needs a bit of a leash because what we know he can do, but man, rough stuff.

Jodie Meeks – Needs an award for staying consistent on such a horrendous team. 13/5/1/3/0. Shot was off, but produced with another multi-steal game.

David West – Rainbow line! 11/12/3/3/2. Noice.

Evan Turner – Was decent in his Indy debut. 13/6/2/1/0 on 6-12 shooting. This was a blowout from all angles; I bet 12 shots is a ceiling. Still needs to be on the wire in most leagues.

Tobias Harris – Just when we thought he had turned it around… 5-11 for a 11/4/1/0/0 clunker.

Maurice Harkless – 38 minutes for 22/5/1 and a couple of treys. Big run with Arron Afflalo out with a big ankle, but I don’t hark much on Harkless.

Victor Oladipo – We like V.O. 26/2/5/1/0 with two treys and only 2 TOs. We like it a lot.

Trevor Booker – No Nene means more playplay for Book. 3/7/1/2/2 in a near-rainbow 30 minute start. Kevin Seraphin would be in the mix, but had to sit with a sore knee. I’ve maintained liking Booker more and this was a pretty good effort.

DeMarre Carroll – Another solid game and showing no ill-effects of his injuries. 13/4/1/1/0 with two treys.

Mike Scott – Huge run of 33 minutes sans Millsap. 12/7/3/1/0 with a pair of treys, but did rack up 4 TOs. In the short-term, should stay big in the minutes another game or two.

Thomas Robinson – Tweaked his knee and never got it going. Man, this was a nice opportunity to show some consistency if given big minutes…

Timofey Mozgov – 25 minutes in a “start”. 14/6/1 with a couple of swats. Eh, usable in the deepers.

J.J. Hickson – Why you ride out things that happen in the news and wait for the stats! 30 minutes despite getting moved to the bench for an unreal 16/25/1/1/1 line. In the paint, he’s like Miley, “I can’t stop I won’t stop!”

Kevin Love – Love is in your stats! 33/13 and one measly assist away from a triple double with 9.

Shabazz Muhammad – Whoa, where did this come from? 20/6/1/2/0 shooting 8-13 in 24 statement minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever had him in an in-season recap… Not buying anything yet, but keeping an eye out for more Bazz outbreaks.

Dante Cunningham – Rainbow line! Sheesh, Wolves goin’ off! 12/5/2/3/3. Is playing pretty decent lately, but Nikola Pekovic almost played last night and will eat up those minutes.

P.J. Tucker – Geez, P.J. and J.J. getting every board in the NBA! 6/16/0/1/2 but shot only 2-11. He definitely paid attention to when the coaches tell you to follow your own shot!

Goran Dragic – While he played through it, tweaked his ankle last night. Questionable for tonight so be sure and discount double-check your line-ups.

Archie Goodwin – 10 points out of left field. Got 16 minutes and played well. My Goodwin love and bias will have him in an article every time he does anything ha!

Next Game: Got highlights for DET @ SA tonight. Kawhi Leonard should be returning! I hope everyone’s off to hot starts this week and be sure to activate Kawhi!

I’ve probably asked this every day for the past few weeks, but time to give up on Terrence Jones? I know he probably has more upside than Taj, but isnTaj going to put up more consistent numbers the rest of the way? Worth making the switch in a weekly 10-team 8cat league?

@Shaft: I would make that move. It isn’t just the blowouts that limit Jones’ minutes. That makes 4 straight with around 20 minutes. That is starting to look like a trend. Asik is back taking minutes, Motiejunas and Casspi have 10-20 min roles. If Houston goes big they have plenty of options outside of Jones. If they go small then Terrence Jones is the guy who loses minutes. Taj is getting 27 consistently even with Noah and Boozer getting plenty of minutes and his play has been just as consistent. If/When Boozer sits Taj is easily a top 50 player and he plays 40+ minutes. The only real loss is maybe a 3PTM but that shouldn’t be much of an issue considering you should see boosts in points, boards, blocks, and even FT%.

@Lasandro: Markieff has been putting up big numbers and getting 30 minutes pretty regularly. Absolutely a must own player in any format. I’m gonna have to say stick with Korver. He does a little more than Carroll due to the assists.

I’m locked into a playoff spot and I need a little boost to make my team the best in this scoring league, weekly rosters avg pts per game (2 for assists). I recently scooped prigioni thinking Felton would be out but that doesn’t look too smart now. Free agents available are mills, hardaway jr, m Scott, brewer, both d greens, h Barnes, kaman, alphabet soup, etc. my roster is

I think we need to host a Razzball Fantasy Basketball Forum on Andre Iguodala and why he must be dropped but yet he can’t be dropped. Or maybe a support group for owners who want to break free of Iggy but can’t. “I can’t quit you Iggy!”

@Pete Nice: Hello, My name is Slim and I’m an Iggy addict. God grant me the serenity to accept that Iggy can’t score, the courage to cut him loose, and the wisdom to never draft him again.

Actually I finally sold him yesterday along with Augustin, I had extra PGs since Chalmers was gifted to me, for Tobias. In a 12er money league. Maybe I lose a little something but I had to get rid of Iggy before I just drop him heading into the playoffs. I was done.

I dropped Hickson yesterday when the news came out. Luckily I still got yesterday’s stats, but I may be regretting that one. It’s a shallow-ish league and his yahoo ranks still pretty much suck. Even after last night, his 11.5/9.5 7 day average has him at 232, which I guess I don’t understand. Maybe it’s the FT %, but 232 still seems too low.

@Michael B: It’s a few things. The FTs make it impossible for him to ever be ranked in the top 100. 11.5 PPG is below average. More TOs than assists can really drag a ranking down. A combined 3s/stls/blks of 1.4 is extremely low end and will keep him outside of the top 150. Will you regret dropping him in a 12er or smaller? I doubt it.

@Michael B: “Regret” eh maybe, the thing that I consider with those ranks is that you can’t look at every single player as a high-ranking multi-cat guy. If your team needs boards, you’ll miss him, if you’re fine in big man stats, you’ll be fine. Hoops is still a team effort with people popping in stats that fit ya.

Ok so here is what we have….. My squad is as follows in a 12 team H2H, no FT%: Lillard, Calderon, Butler, Matthews, Alphabet, Bazemore, Love, Gay, Davis, Harris, Sweet Lou, Chandler.

I do well in boards, points and 3’s. Currently sitting in first and looking at potential adds as people try to make playoffs.

Felton was dropped yesterday and I am mulling over dropping Bazemore for him. Thoughts? Any of these that you think I should snag for one of my players? Garnett, Waiters, Redick, McLemore, Miles Plumlee

@Jessica: Yeah I buy the Felton move. Tough to know what Doh-toni is gonna do next and I don’t think Bazemore is an especially great NBA player. And his best asset is pure scoring where you’re fine. Any time!

How do you feel about trading Millsap and Beal and getting Derozan and Tristan Thompson in return. I have a good amount of good big men and I’m trying to just balance out my team. It’s a H2H with no FG and FT% with rebounds and assists are 1.5 in comparison to 1 for other stats.

@Nikko: Nah I don’t like that one. I think Millsap is too good there. Although Thompson does get a boost in that format… Eh I might be changing my mind weighing the stats. Beal doesn’t do too much in that format with no rebs or asts. Thompson is prob better than Beal eh I think I’m good with it if it fits your needs. Stream of consciousness answer!

I shouldnt think twice about offering up my Thad for Noah yeah? I need assistance in brds and assists and I can afford to drop my stls to obtain it. He’ll score more than Noah too, but need them big board numbers.

Also, all three of my Magic Men dub dubbed for me today. Today was a good day. Ice Cube. Way to get me to stick it out with Jameer – his shot just HAD to drop sometime soon. Hope it keeps up